GEOGRAPHIC NOTES
AFRICA
SIERRA LEONE. The first section of the first railroad in British West
Africa is now being operated between Freetown and Wellington.
BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. A company has been formed to construct and
operate a line of railway from Umtali to Salisbury, a distance of about
160 miles. Umtali is the terminus of the existing Beira railway system.
ABYSSINIA. A recent report on the trade of Adis Abbata states that
ivory, which could once be obtained at the rate of a tusk for a percus
sion musket, is now sold at from $80 to $100 for 40 pounds. Coffee of
good quality grows wild in many parts of the country.
CENTRAL AMERICA
BRITISH HONDURAS. The report of the government surveyors on the
practicability of the proposed railroad from Belize to the western frontier
of the colony (a distance of 72 miles) estimates the cost of construction
at $3,575,237, or nearly $50,000 per mile. It is considered doubtful if the
road would pay interest on so large an investment unless it were continued
into Guatemala, and negotiations looking to that end are now in progress.
NICARAGUA. Mr Thomas O'Hara, U. S. consul at San Juan del Norte,
states in a recent report that there is neither a cellar nor a chimney in
that city. All the buildings are of wood, although lumber is expensive
and short-lived, the climate and wood ants combining to play havoc with
it. The exclusive use of wood (except in a very few cases for foundation
purposes) is not due to fear of earthquakes, but to the fact that there is
neither stone nor brick-clay in the vicinity. There is, however, no market
for imported brick.
SOUTH AMERICA
VENEZUELA. The government of Venezuela has ceded to Messrs Rut
gers de Beaufort, bankers, of Amsterdam, the monopoly of all the salt
mines in the country, in consideration of the establishment of a new
bank in Caracas with a capital of $3,860,000. The bank will have the
right to establish branches and to issue notes to double the amount of
its capital. The concession is reported to have created great dissatisfac
tion among the people.
BRITISH GUIANA. A recent writer on the gold industry of British
Guiana says that whether the colony has a future as a gold-producing
country is a question not yet removed from the region of doubt. There
is no denying the fact that the central areas are richly auriferous, but the
difficulties and dangers attending the navigation of the rivers constitute
an enormous obstacle to the working of the deposits. The total gold pro
duction of the colony for the year ending June 30, 1897, was 128,334
ounces, as against 119,422 ounces in 1895-'96, and 138,279 ounces in
1892-'93.
J. H.